Browns make call: Quinn at QB

Crucial INT prompts benching of Anderson

Quarterback Derek Anderson has been benched by the Browns, who will start popular backup Brady Quinn Thursday night against the Broncos.

The switch was announced yesterday by the team, just hours after coach Romeo Crennel said he had no plans to make a change.

Anderson, who has been inconsistent this season, threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown in the final minutes of Sunday's 37-27 loss to the Ravens.

That prompted Browns fans to begin chants for Quinn, the former Notre Dame star who has thrown just eight passes in two seasons.

Schaub sidelined

Houston quarterback Matt Schaub injured his knee and will be out at least two weeks, possibly up to a month.

Coach Gary Kubiak said officials were still trying to determine the severity of the injury, but that Schaub was on crutches.

Schaub hurt his medial collateral ligament when he was hit in the knee by Jared Allen in the second quarter of Houston's loss to Minnesota Sunday. He finished the second quarter before being replaced by Sage Rosenfels after halftime.

Allen sprained his right shoulder later in the game and is questionable for next week.

Also, Texans long snapper Bryan Pittman met with league officials in New York to appeal a possible suspension after testing positive for the weight-loss diuretic Bumetanide.

Culpepper agrees

Daunte Culpepper has agreed to a two-year deal with the 0-8 Lions, and said yesterday he would sign it after taking a physical. . . . Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck may return to practice this week for the first time in more than a month, but Seattle coach Mike Holmgren said that doesn't mean Hasselbeck will play Sunday at Miami . . . The Saints placed starting defensive end Charles Grant on injured reserve and re-signed veteran defensive tackle Hollis Thomas. Grant will miss the remainder of the season because of a triceps injury, general manager Mickey Loomis said . . . The Broncos placed running backs Michael Pittman and Andre Hall on injured reserve, depleting an already thin backfield. Pittman reinjured his neck in a 26-17 loss to Miami Sunday. He was the team's leading rusher with 320 yards this season. Hall is out with a left hand injury. Selvin Young (groin) has missed the last three weeks, leaving rookie Ryan Torain as the only relatively healthy running back on the roster.

Tennessee flexes

Tennessee, the NFL's only remaining unbeaten team, will be at Jacksonville at 4:15 p.m. instead of 1 p.m. Nov. 16, the first week of flexible scheduling in the NFL. Cowboys at Redskins will remain the Sunday night game, beginning at 8:15 . . . Commissioner Roger Goodell doubts the impasse with cable operators over extending the NFL Network's reach will be resolved before this week's Broncos-Browns matchup, the channel's first Thursday night game of the season. Speaking in Arlington, Va., Goodell rejected the idea put forth by 13 members of the US Senate in a letter to him last week that the NFL is too narrowly interpreting what a home market is. The league provides broadcasts of NFL Network games on free TV to the home cities of competing teams. "This is not a new definition of home territory," Goodell said. "This is something we've had for over 20 years." . . . Billy Jenkins, a former Bronco accused of killing a motor scooter driver in a hit-and-run collision waived his preliminary hearing in Centennial, Colo. Arraignment was set for Dec. 11.